Thomas Holliday Hicks

Thomas Holliday Hicks (2 September 1798-14 February 1865) was Governor of Maryland (A) from 13 January 1858 to 8 January 1862 (succeeding Thomas W. Ligon and preceding Augustus Bradford) and a US Senator (R) from 29 December 1862 to 14 February 1865 (succeeding James Pearce and preceding John A.J. Creswell).

Biography
Thomas Holliday Hicks was born in East New Market, Maryland in 1798, and he was elected town constable as a Democrat in 1824. From 1829 to 1830 and in 1836, he served in the House of Delegates as a Whig, and he served as Register of Wills for Dorchester County from 1838 to 1858, when he became Governor. He became a member of the Know Nothings upon the dissolution of the Whigs, opposed abolitionism, and supported slave owners, but he belatedly supported the Union and opposed secession. The Baltimore riot of 1861 created a crisis in the state, and he initially agreed to the burning of railroad bridges to prevent more Union soldiers from arriving in the state. He went on to serve in the US Seante from 1862 to 1865 as a Republican, endorsing Abraham Lincoln for re-election in 1864. He died in Washington DC in 1865 while still in office.